Thursday, June 17, 2010

Wall Street Reform

Congressman Paul Kanjorski is one of the key players negotiating a major overhaul of the rules that govern the financial industry. The House and Senate have passed bills and now the conference committee has to bang out a bill that can can be passed by both houses of Congress. In an interview with PoliticsPA he said “This legislation is without a doubt the most significant thing I’ve worked on in Congress.... This is an issue and a time that tests why you’re in Congress,” he said. “If this costs me my seat, so be it. I came to do the best I could.”Kanjo is still fighting for his ‘too big to fail’ amendment that would grant the government new powers to break up large financial firms if a financial company is deemed systemically risky.

Some of my friends on the right blame Kanjorski for letting this becoming a crisis in the first place and I think that is a valid criticism but he has been working on preventing the meltdown that happened in 2008 from happening again.

I favor the the too big too fail amendment but ask why do you have to wait? I agree with Senator Bernie Sanders (VT) "If it’s too big to fail, it’s too big to exist."TheSherman Antitrust Act broke up the Standard Oil Company and it's successor companies thrived. AT&T was broken up and the baby bells are all in business and competing with each other. Break up the financial firms and chances are we will get the same results.

3 comments:

Anonymous
said...

If its too big to fail isn't it too big to exist. So the government takeover of the banks, the auto industry, the healthcare system, the upteen czars telling everyone what to do...haven't they become too big and aren't they failing.

Failure to produce significant job creation with stimulus, BP Oil Spill, Afghanistan, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac delisting stock and needing more money, increased taxes, finding out that almost half the people will lose their present health insurance due to rules administration is creating, failure of no child left behind to acheive goals, more terroristic attempts than ever, states taking immigration issue into their own hands...

As far as too big to fail..tell me exactly who is going to determine when they are too big to fail, define the threshold..government is going to determine that?? Are the same standards going to apply no matter who is in the White House?? C'mon Kanjo's smoke and mirrors again.

Sherman Antitrust Act may very well be designed to stop the huge companies but that didn't stop the government from allowing the Exxon Mobil merger. Govt. regulation is for the little guy, not big business.

Kanjo is always the lesser of two evils in the election but you know what he ain't getting my vote. I have sat back and witnessed his bs and bush league people he has working for him. Gort 42 is getting my vote for Congress.